In the battle of the new eras at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday it was England under new Interim Head Coach Lee Carsley that beat Heimir Hallgrímsson's Republic of Ireland side 2-0 thanks to goals from Declan Rice and Jack Grealish.
It wasn't the rousing performance that Irish fans hoped for as England were comfortable throughout but one of the bright sparks of the day from an Irish perspective was the performance of Nathan Collins.
The 23-year old Brentford star put in a solid shift in the centre of defence as he at points was left with the daunting task of trying to hold off the England counter-attack single handedly. He took up the armband after Seamus Coleman went off, a potential signs of what's to come in the future for the Leixlip man.
Collins spoke with RTÉ's Tony O'Donoghue after the match and when O'Donoghue began the interview by saying it wasn't a surprise that England won, Collins pushed back in a valiant response.
I wouldn't say it was expected, we went in here with a fresh head, fresh manager, we went out there with a mindset and a gameplan but we started a bit slow, a bit passive to start with, they scored a chance, put a bit of deflation in us.
It was a tough start but I think in defence, I thought in our defence in the second half we started better, got active a bit more, we applied more pressure and won the ball in higher areas and we had a few more chances.
🇮🇪 0-2 🏴
"We went out with a mindset and a game plan but we started a bit slow and a bit passive," says Ireland defender Nathan Collins. "In the second half we got at them a bit more."
📱 Match report https://t.co/8T8vvwdetI#NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/BjTliLbRpX— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 7, 2024
Now, it's fair to say that O'Donoghue's question to start the interview reads worse than what was initially intended, which was to make the point that England were the heavy favourites heading into this match. However Collins' response is a positive sign for this Irish squad in a new era under Heimir Hallgrímsson.
It's been a rough several years for this squad where they've won very few matches but to see them come into a game of such magnitude confident of winning is only a good thing.
The play on the pitch can come with time as Hallgrímsson spends more time with the players and becomes more familiar with the squad but being able to instil confidence this early is a sign that this squad believes Hallgrímsson is the man to bring them forward.
Hopefully the results on the pitch will follow.
